The Blond Swordsman
by Maestro of Madness
Summary: One life ends in a far off world and another begins. With nothing but a drive to become the best swordsman, and the ungodly stupidity to actually hold a sword in his mouth, this young man will embark to prove that women aren't the only ones in this world that can become strong. It'll be a long and amazing story. Hopefully it'll end alright... if he doesn't get lost along the way.
1. Prolouge

**Hey, look who has a new story! I know I should focus on the ones I have, but I have ideas. For those reading Knight of Oppai you should expect a reboot by December for that story even though it's pretty recent. It's mostly because I wanted to try writing a pervy character and while it was fun it was also difficult to do that with Jaune so I'll redo it.**

 **This chapters kinda short but I'll try and get the next one out in the next couple of days. Now onto the story so tell me what you think in the comments.**

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 **The Blond Swordsman**

 **Ch. 1**

A man stands alone in a bleak white room. He stands nearly 6 feet tall with short green hair and a scar over his right eye. Another scar stretches across his torso from his left should down towards the right side of his hip.

"The hell? Where am I?" The unnamed man ponders to no one. Looking around he notices that there's nothing in the room except for a door with a light over it. Soon the light turns green and the door opens.

The green haired man looks in the door and thinks for a few moments. "Nowhere else to go I guess." With only one way out he walks through the door into another room like the previous one. The sole exception being the pale man with short blond hair sitting at a desk in the center.

The pale man looks up from his paper work makes eye contact with his visitor. "Ah, you're here." He smiles at the green haired man before looking back towards his paper. "Give me just a second. I need to finish this." Before the visitor can ask any questions, the working man puts the paper back down and gives him his undivided attention. "Now then, how can I help you?"

"Where am I? I don't remember coming here. So that means you probably kidnapped me." The aggressive man moves his left hand to his right hip as though to grab something. He feels around only to find nothing. "What's going on? What'd you guys do with my swords?"

The pale man puts his hands up defensively to try and calm the angered swordsman. "I haven't done anything with them. They weren't with you when you came here."

"And where is 'here' anyways?" The unarmed swordsman calms some as he questions the unknown man.

The unknown man gives a small chuckle at the question. "Well, that is a good question, isn't it? This place has been called many things before. Tell me, what's the last thing you remember?"

The swordsman ponders for a moment as he tries to recall recent events. Everything seems fuzzy, but as he thinks more one thing does come to mind. "I died, didn't I?" He receives a nod from his strange acquaintance in conformation. "Tch, of course I did. I suppose that means that this must be the afterlife."

The pale gentleman nods again to confirm. "You're correct. I'm glad to see that you're accepting this easy. Most become hysterical or deny it."

"Does that mean you're God? Don't seem like much to me." If the pale man was offended by the swordsman comment, he didn't show it.

"No, no. I'm not God. The Great One has bigger things to do then deal with every individual soul. I'm what you may call a secretary. I deal with those who've recently died and send them to the correct place."

The swordsman hums at the news. "Then you must be here to show me the way to Hell. Well, let's get on with it. No point in wasting time."

Again, the secretary waves his hands in front of him. "I'm afraid if you were expecting to go to Hell then you're going to be sorely disappointed."

"I'm not going to Hell?" The revelation causes the swordsman to be mildly surprised. "You saying I'm going to Heaven? Doesn't seem like the kinda place for someone like me."

"I can understand why you'd see it that way." Another laugh escapes the odd entities lips as he picks up some pieces of paper. "While you have done some rather nasty things, your good actions greatly outweigh them. You and your friends achieved many great things in your adventures that saved many people. As such it has been decided that you have escaped the fiery pit."

"Alright then. Send me on my way. I hope you guys have good alcohol in Heaven."

"I'm sure we'll be able to satisfy you." With a snap of the secretaries fingers a new door appears. He points to the door as it opens down the new hallway. "Walk down that hall. Go until you come to the door at the very end. You'll be in Heaven in no time."

Walking towards the door, the swordsman walks past it and says his goodbyes. "I'll be seeing you then, Mr. Secretary."

With a wave, the secretary bids the swordsman farewell. "I hope you enjoy the afterlife, Roronoa Zoro."

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Entering the hallway, Roronoa Zoro sees that it's like the rooms. Bleak white as if made of marble. The only difference is that there's clouds floating higher up maybe 10 feet or so. "Yep, this seems like the Afterlife alright."

Further down the hall, there seems to be branching paths. For what, he has no idea. Zoro starts on his path to Heaven as he walks down the hall. He continues walking for another minute or so until he notices one of the branching paths on his right. 'He said to walk down this hall until I see the door. There's no sign of it yet so it must be further down. There's probably a short cut down this way.'

And with that, the swordsman's path to Heaven takes a wrong turn. Who would've thought. Another minute or so passes until he notices a door at the end of the hall. 'That's probably it.' There appears to be a sign over the door, but a cloud covers its name. 'Doesn't matter. This is the only door so this has to be it.' He walks though the doorway and becomes enveloped in a blinding light as he passes through.

After he enters, the cloud above the door moves out of the way. It reveals the name on the sign. **"Reincarnation"** in big bold letters hangs over head with a digital board that seems to be changing. The board comes to a stop on the destination of the new arrival. **"Remnant"**

And so begins the story of how a boy would one-day chase after his goal to become the greatest swordsman in a word dominated by women, and how he would change the very shape of it as he made his journey.

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 **On Remnant**

In a hospital within the city of Vale, a very pregnant Isabelle D. Arc was currently in the middle of one of her most trying moments of her life. The birth of her fourth and fifth children. Even this great Huntress is no match for the horrifying pains of child birth.

The doctor on call is trying her best to assist with the birth, but with the fact that the mother is a very accomplished, and very strong, Huntress she can do little except direct her in fear of the lash out that might come from her.

"Ma'am, I'm gonna need you to push! You're almost there!"

"I'm trying!" The exhausted mother continues to try and push the child out. Eventually, after much cursing and promises of pain to the father, she's able to finally bring the newborn child into the world.

The doctor holds the baby up to her chest to see the sex of the child. "It's a girl." The announcement causes the mother of four children now begins to weep slightly. Until another sharp pain knocks her from the happy moment. "AAAAAHHHHHH!"

Quickly the doctor hands the newborn to a nearby nurse and checks the pained woman. "The other child's on the way!" Like before they assist as best they can get the other life into the world. A few more seconds pass before another head crowns out and slips into the waiting doctor's hands.

Another check in the light she announces the sex. "It's a boy."

With the birth of the final child, the mother can finally rest. She holds her arms out to hold her children and see their beautiful faces. Tears begin to pool in her eyes as she looks them over. Both have bright blond hair and deep blue eyes that shine through whenever they aren't crying. "They're so beautiful. Aren't they dear?"

Next to her the father, Michael Arc, looks at his two children's wailing faces. "They sure are. Do you have any names in mind?"

The wife and mother nods at the question before returning her attention the children. "Of course. For the girl, I was thinking Marron, and for the boy I was thinking of naming him Jaune."

Michael gently caresses the newborn's heads. "Those names sound nice. I'm sure they'll grow up to be great people."


	2. The Promise

**Hey everyone. Update time. Same as usual, leave a comment to know what you think and anything else you wanna say.**

 **Quick note. The fight in this story is a mirror to Zoro vs Kuina but with a different outcome.**

 **Now onto the chapter.**

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 **The Blond Swordsman**

 **Ch. 1**

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It's a beautiful evening. The setting sun cast shadows across the scenery. The different insects start to come out to give their night time calls. Everyone begins to quiet down from the peaceful day.

 _Whack_

"Ow!"

Everyone except for me…

My name is Jaune D. Arc. I'm 7 years old, and currently practicing with my sister, Marron, and my mother. With my mom being an accomplished Huntress, she decided it would be best to train her daughters to be like her.

In this world, the world of Remnant, there exists a form of energy called Aura. Everyone has Aura, from humans, to Faunus, to the different animals, and even the plants. The only difference between all these different life forms is that for some reason only women can unlock their Aura. No research has been able to show why this is the case, but some speculate that it may be because of the myth on how Aura came into being in the first place.

Back during the dawn of time on this world, there existed two sisters. One was a Goddess of Light, and the other a Goddess of Darkness. Supposedly they fought one another for years until they decided to leave this world behind. Before they left though they come together and created one last thing. The Human and Faunus races.

This final creation was a sign of their unity. But there was a threat to that unity. The Grimm. Spawned from the younger sister of Darkness, they were ravenous beasts that destroyed and devoured everything in sight. To give their new life a chance against these monsters they gave them the power of Aura. It acted as a defense mechanism from anything that harmed them and even allowed them to access a special power called a Semblance, a distinct ability each person with Aura had.

With no definite explanation as to why only women can use Aura many look to this as the main explanation. Because of the distinct difference in physical ability there was a gap between women and men. Men used to be much more subservient to women and did most household work. With the passing of time though, social norms changed and now men on average were equals. Though there were still cases where they would be discriminated against, it became an uncommon thing that many looked down on.

Getting back to the matter at hand though, I'm currently sparring with my fraternal twin sister. Even though I'm a boy I insisted with my mother to allow me to train with my other sisters. She was against it for a while, but after seeing me train by myself and deciding it would be best to just let me get it out of my system, she started to give me exercises to do.

Without the natural buff of having Aura the training she's given me would do little. So, I decided to do some secret training. Every morning I would get up early head down to the river a mile or so away from the house. There I would use large rocks to strengthen my body by carrying ones bigger then myself on my back, tying ropes around them and using trees as pully systems to do reps with them, even walk against the current with some strapped to my back.

Mother was surprised at my rapidly increasing physical capabilities. Even without Aura I could match those with it like my sister as far as physical capabilities go. Though they still beat me it was mostly an attest to their experience. The one I had the biggest rivalry though was Marron. As my twin, she seemed like the best to see where I stand against others. But even then, she was greater than my older sisters.

Mother said she had an unequaled talent that only comes around every few generations within the Arc family. My parents considered the two of us as a cut above the rest from their other siblings and saw our birth as an odd blessing.

This spar we're holding is our 2000 one. It's also my 2000 loss. "Gah!" I'm knocked back down again by the wooden practice sword my sister's wielding. None of them can use real weapons when they spar with me in fear that they may accidently kill me. Even with my two practice swords I can't do anything.

"And that's the match." My mother calls an end to our spar. She walks over to check on me and looks at my bruises. "Nothing broken, you'll be okay." With that she helps me up to my feet and takes my practice swords.

"Sweetie, I think it's best to stop now. You and your sister have been sparing for almost a year now and you haven't been able to get a single win. While I love your tenacity it's starting to become worrisome."

I try and brush of my mother's worries calmly. "It's fine mom. I'll get in a win the next time, you'll see. I just gotta up my training."

The tired mother sighs, exasperated by my thick headedness. "I just think it would be best if you tried something else. You have an unbelievable amount of strength and talent, especially for a boy. But you need to face the facts. You'll never be able to travel the world and fight like this against other trained Huntresses and Grimm. They'll tear you apart."

"I know that. It's why I need to get stronger! How else am I supposed to become the world's best swordsman if I can't even take a step outside of the village without fear of being mauled by a wild Grimm?" My pleas do little to sway her though.

"I'm sorry but this is the end. I can't allow you to keep letting yourself get beat up and lead to your death."

"But mo—"

"My word is final Jaune! This is the last time we're having this discussion." She raises he voice to try and push for her point. "Now go inside and get washed up. Dinner's going to be ready soon."

With nothing left to be said she heads inside to get ready to turn in for the night. I fall to my butt again and look up at the evening sky. The sound of footsteps on grass comes from my right. I look to see Marron looking down on me with a worried expression.

"Are you okay?" Despite just kicking my butt, she shows her usual concern for me. Whenever we're sparring she enters this odd battle mode and becomes wholly focused on dealing with her opponents. Outside of fights however she does a complete 180 and becomes a smothering mess on everyone.

"I'm fine. Nothing new here." Deciding it would be best to head inside and not get yelled at, I get back up and walk inside with her. Before I walk up the stairs I stop and turn to my twin. "Tonight, around 11, meet me at the river in the back. I have something I wanna talk about."

All she does is give me a questioning look before agreeing. With nothing left to be said I head up to the bathroom to wash up. Half an hour later everyone gathers around the dinner table to eat. Each of my sisters talk among themselves as they each eat.

Argente, the oldest, talks with mom about recent events in the world of Huntresses. Dore, the 2nd oldest, is getting a scolding from dad for partying to much at a friend's house and causing trouble. Verte, the youngest after me, scarfs down any scrap near her before anyone else gets a chance to. Violette, the third youngest, helps the toddler twins, Noire and Blanche, eat their food.

Silently I eat my meal as I focus about the event later tonight. What I have in mind will require me to be totally concentrated to achieve my goal. It's a stretch to think I'll be able to achieve, but I need to do it to get anywhere.

After the meal is over everyone begins to head off to bed. A few hours pass until I'm sure everyone's gone to sleep. Silently I slip out from my room and make my way to the armory. Inside we keep different armaments from past Arc's and our practice swords. Not just wooden ones, but real steel blades.

I grab three swords and make my way out the door. Suddenly I stop before leaving and look at the sword sitting in a display in the center of the room. **Wado Ichimoji**. The ancient blade that's been passed down through the family for generations. It's been within the family longer than anyone can remember. Legend says that it was made by a great blacksmith in the past along with 20 other swords.

It, along with the sword used by one of my ancestors, Crocea Mors, are two of the greatest treasures within our family. Wado Ichimoji has been in the family longer, but rarely used. Only the greatest of our warriors were chosen to wield it. Maybe a handful of women have wielded it, but none within the past few generations.

Looking at the clock, I notice it's getting late. Hurrying along to the meeting place I head to the river. It's getting close to the meeting time. The minutes pass while I wait. I start to get worried that Marron won't show up.

Before long, a rustling sound can be heard from the nearby shrubbery. Marron walks out from the overgrowth and makes her way over to me. "I'm here. What'd you wanna talk about?" My response is throwing her one of the swords. She catches it no problem and looks over the weapon. "What's this for?"

Grabbing the other two I brought for myself I walk a small distance away from her and get into a stance. "What do you think's for? We're gonna spar with them."

My sudden invitation to a duel catches her off guard. "With real swords!? Jaune, you don't have Aura! If we duel with these you could get seriously hurt, or even killed!"

Nothing she says deters me from my challenge. "I know. That's why I'm doing this. With wooden swords I feel no real challenge. If we use real blades I can use the danger to push myself even further."

"Even so—"

"Marron!" I cut her off from attempting to argue. "… After tonight, I won't have another chance like this. Mom won't allow any of you to spar with me again if I can't prove that I can fight with the rest of you."

Marron continues to look at the sword and myself hesitantly. "I don't know, Jaune. I'm still not sure."

"Please, Marron." I plea for her to give me this chance. "I need this. If I can't practice swordsmanship I'll have nothing."

Moments pass as she ponders my request. Silence fills the air for so long that it becomes deafening. A small bead of sweat drips down the side of my face. The anticipation starts to get to me. If she rejects me, then that's it. There'll be nothing left for me to do.

"Alright." … Her response catches me off guard at first. It takes me a moment to even process what she's said.

"What… did you just say…?"

She unsheathes the sword from its hilt and gets into her own stance. "I said I accept your challenge. I duel you."

I stare at her dumbfounded for a moment before a vicious grin grows on my face. "Alright then! Lets' get started. You better not hold back."

"Of course not." The caring and cheerful Marron leaves, and in her place, enters the stern and battle-ready warrior.

We stand across from each other in the grassy field next to the river. It's dead quiet as we stare each other down. Even the animals and insects nearby quiet down as we prepare. Suddenly a slow breeze blows through the feels causing the grass to sway with it. As soon as the breeze ends we leap at each other.

The first strike comes from me as I try and use the sword in my right hand to swing at her horizontally from my left to my right. She blocks the attack easily and moves in to attack my open right. I turn my body and use my left blade to block it. The attack reverberates through me straight to my core.

Jumping back, I attempt to gain some distance. We stare each other down again before we both charge in to recommence our battle. Attack, parry, block, attack, parry, block. We continue to exchange strikes over and over again. Minutes pass as neither one of us can gain any ground.

Stepping away from one another we remain in our stances. I'm hacking and gasping for air while all she's doing is sweating a little. Even trying the best I can this is all I can do. "These real swords, they feel heavier, don't they? Even with all the training you've accomplished this is all you can do."

It's like she can read my mind. My frustration boils over at the insult. "Shut up! Stop talking and fight me!"

She uses my agitated state to her advantage and closes the distance between us in the blink of an eye. She's already on me before I can get my guard raised properly. My two swords go sailing overhead, and I along with them. Marron brings her sword down to stab into me as I hit the ground. I close my eyes and wait for the piercing pain to take me. Only to feel nothing.

I open my eyes and look to my left to see the sword embedded in the ground. She stairs down in victory, sweat dripping from her face and a smirk across her lips. "I suppose this makes it my 2001st victory."

Getting off me she wipes the sweat from her face. Something begins to sting my eyes. For a second I think that some of her seat fell into them, only to realize that it's my own tears. Soon I begin to ball like a cry baby. I bring my hands up to block Marron from seeing me like this humiliating appearance.

"Damn it… Why…? After everything I still can't beat you." The tears don't show any sign of stopping as I lay in defeat.

I don't know the look on her face, but I'm sure Marron's sad to see me like this. "What are you crying for, Jaune? I should be the one who should be frustrated right now." The tears slow down to a crawl. Pulling my hands away from my face I see that a stray tear falls from her check.

"As a boy, you have the choice to do whatever you like. But as a girl of the Arc family, I'm expected to follow in our family's legacy and become a Huntress. With my incredible talent, you could say that there's more pressure on me to do so than Argente or Dore."

She looks up towards the broken moon hanging over head, the shadows fall over her eyes blocking me from seeing them. "You always say that you'll become the world's best swordsmen. I'm sure you could easily accomplish it with your strength in time. I'm actually jealous that you're allowed to chase after your dream like you are, when I'm pressured to continue following the path of a Huntress."

A few more tears fall from her eyes to the grassy field. Her unarmed hand balls into a fist. "I wish I was born a man. At least that way I could chose to become a warrior if I wanted."

The frustration returns, but this time it wasn't solely aimed at myself. "You can't just do that! You can't say something like that after you just beat me! You're my goal, something I'm striving for!"

She's crying more now. What was once a few stray tears is now a steady stream. "Jaune…"

"Saying that you don't even wanna become a Huntress in the first place! All you're doing is insulting all my hard these past few years! It's not fair for you to just throw that in my face by saying that you were forced to do this!"

Her tears finally stop. She stares at me with a look of surprise. "If you don't wanna be a Huntress then tell them! Tell them that it's not what you wanna do! But don't you stand there and say that you beat me when you don't even wanna try!"

I'm outta breath again from all the yelling. We continue to look into each other's eyes for what seems like hours. Eventually she gives a small smile. "Alright. I'll tell them, tomorrow."

I share in her smile and walk over towards my two fallen swords. "Good. For now, let's head back home. If we wait any longer someone may start to notice we're gone."

With our business concluded, we return to the house. The broken moon shines its light upon us as it hangs directly overhead. We say good night one last time before going back to bed.

Not knowing what tomorrow would bring.

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The weight of rocks I have thrown over the tree starts to make my muscles ache. This is probably my 1000th rep on each arm. Add in the dumbbell I have in my mouth to strengthen my neck and this whole exercise probably looks like torture for a child.

Last night made me see that I'm still too weak. Two swords won't be enough to surpass Marron. If that's the case, then I'll just have to use three. It seems crazy, but so is a male trying to beat a female with Aura.

Footsteps approach me from behind, crushing leaf's as they get closer. I halt my exercise and turn to see Dore approaching me at great speed. "Watts op Dore?" Trying to talk with the weight in my mouth makes it hard, but I'm sure she heard me.

"Jaune!" She comes to a screeching halt. She must've been running around for a while now because she's out of breath. "Something—something happened at the house!"

I take the weight out of my mouth at the seriousness situation. "What do ya mean!? What happened at the house!?" The faces of my family flash through my mind.

"It's… It's Marron!" …Marron … What happened to Marron…? "She was working with some Dust in the training hall when an accident occurred. The mixture ended up exploding in her face. The Dust must've been bad!"

I don't take the time to hear what happened. I break into a dead sprint to the house. Dore tries to call out to me, but I ignore her and head on. Soon the house comes into view past the tree line.

The training hall looks like it was just on fire. Seems Dore was telling the truth. Heading inside I run into the kitchen to find dad with the younger children. "Dad!"

Dad's holding the others when he looks up at me. "Jaune! You're okay."

"Ya, I am. What happened here?"

He looks to the twin infants in his arms crying and tries to get them to calm down. "Marron was using some Dust in the training hall when it exploded. Your mother and Argente took her to the hospital in Vale. They should be getting there soon. They called a Bullhead from the village to take them."

I go into a cold sweat at the conformation of the accident. "Marron! I Marron okay!?"

Dore soon enters the kitchen. "She's in bad shape. Your mother doesn't think she'll die, but it's not looking good. We'll be joining them soon, but for now we'll have to wait." I'm starting to shake. This entire situation is horrible. And all I can do is sit here and do nothing!

I feel a hand on my shoulder. Dore's looking at me with a serious expression. "You heard him. All we can do right now is wait for the news. I'm sure we can join them when things calm down some. Until them, the best we can do is hope for her to be okay."

Hearing it makes sense, but it doesn't make it feel any better. Violette walks over to me and pulls on my pant leg. "It's okay big brother. Big sis Marron's really tough, I'm sure she'll be okay."

Her words seem to sooth my frustration some. Reaching down I pick her up. "Your big brother must look pretty pathetic to need you to make him feel better, huh?"

This cause her to laugh, bringing some piece of happiness to this situation. "Nope! I know you really care for big sis Marron, so I bet you're worried the most."

I give the courage's young girl a kiss on the forehead before setting her back down. Dad joins us and gives me a reassuring smile. "Why don't we all head to the living room for now? We could all use some rest."

Agreeing with the patriarch's words we head to the next room and settle in until we hear from the others.

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8 hours pass until we hear any news of Marron's condition. She's stable with now, but that's all we've been told. The Bullhead that dropped them off is sent back to take us to Vale. Dad tried to ask Dore to say behind to watch the younger girls, but was quickly shot down.

Giving in he allowed everyone to come along to see how Marron's doing. The ride there was quiet and uneventful. Everyone was too concerned to say anything. It takes little more than an hour to arrive.

Vale comes into view. It's night now and the cityscape is lit up in a wondrous display of lights. The hospital sits near the center of the city with a helipad on top. Immediately after we land we head to the reception desk to find out what rooms Marron's in.

"Alright, we don't wanna crowd her, so for now Jaune and I will go see her. When we get back the rest of you can see her." Before he can even finish I rush off to her room. With the directions I got from the nurse it shouldn't take long. "Jaune wait! Don't go off on your own, you'll get lost!"

How am I gonna get lost? The directions were simple. If I follow them it shouldn't be hard to find.

 **Half an hour later**

Where in the world is this stupid room! I followed the nurse's directions exactly. She must've not known what she was talking about because I can't find it. I even tried asking some others for the way to the room and it still didn't work. These people must have a horrible sense of direction.

Now I'm just running around the halls trying to find out where everyone is. Continuing through the halls I turn a corner and run into something. Falling backwards I catch myself before crash. "Ow. Geez."

Looking to see what I hit, I notice a tall, gray haired woman standing in front of me. I find it odd that her hair's gray considering she looks about the same age as my mother. She dusts off her light green vest before turning to me. "Are you alright, young man?" She shows some concern for my well-being.

"I'm fine." I brush off the concern as I get my bearings back. "I'm sorry for running into you. I'm in a rush to find the room my sister's in. I tried following the directions the nurse gave me, but they must've been wrong. It's been half an hour, but I can't seem to find it anywhere."

A coy smile spreads across her face. "I see. Well it just so happens that I'm here to visit a friend of mine's daughter who was injured. I was heading to their room now, but I suppose I can help you find your sister first. What's her name? I'll need to know so I can help."

That cheers me up a little. Having someone to help me look will make this a lot easier. "Sure! Her names Marron D. Arc. I'm her brother Jaune D. Arc."

The unknown woman's eyes widen slightly before she lets out a small chuckle. "I see. Then perhaps this is destiny at work. I just so happen to be looking for someone with the same name."

Wow! What're the odds. "You're looking for someone named Marron D. Arc too! I didn't think someone had the same name as my sister. Maybe they're placed next to each other."

She gives me a slightly dumbfounded look before laughing again. "May be. Why don't we go see?"

"Okay!" I follow the mysterious woman down the hall. In about a minute or so we come to a room. The digital name plate on it says that Marron D. Arc is in this room. "I wonder if this one's my sister or the one that has your friend's daughter in it?"

"Who knows? I suppose we'll have to open it to find out."

Opening the door I peer inside to see who's inside. A woman's sitting in a chair near a hospital bed. Inside the bed a young girl looks to be resting with different monitors surrounding her. The woman turns to look at me.

"Jaune? Is that you?"

Now that I get a better look the woman's my mother. "Mom! I found you!" Running over to her I jump up to hug her. "I've been looking for you guys everywhere." If this is the room mom's in then that must mean… "Marron!"

I receive a quick smack to the back of my head from my mother. "Inside voice Jaune. She's resting right now."

"Ow. Sorry mom." Rubbing the back of my head I turn to the lady who I met along the way. "Oh ya, mom. This lady helped me find this place."

The gray haired women steps forward and introduces herself. "Hello, Isabelle. It's good to see you, though I wish it was under better circumstances."

"I'm surprised to see you here, Olivia. I thought you would be busy with Beacon right now." Huh? Does mom know this person? It takes me a moment to realize that the person she was here to see… was my own sister.

…. I'm an idiot. Not that I'd let anyone else know that.

The two women continue with their conversation while I come to terms with my own stupidity. "I would be, but I left Glynda in charge of the work for tonight. A friend of mine's daughter was just in an accident after all. It would be rude of me to not come and visit."

"I suppose that's your way of saying that you felt like it was too much work to stay and left Glynda to do it all?" My mother gives her a sly smirk as the woman, now named Olivia, looks her dead in the eyes.

"You can't prove that."

The two continue to stare at one another for a few moments before sharing a short laugh. "I would love to get caught up, but I believe I should leave you with your family for now." With a nod my mother says goodbye to Olivia.

Since the two are done talking I figure it's best to finally ask some questions. "Who was that mom?"

She looks back to me and picks me up to set me in her lap. "That was Olivia Pine. She's the Headmistress at Beacon Academy. The school Huntresses in training go to."

"I see. That explains why she knows you." I turn my attention to Marron now. Looking her over she has bandages wrapped around most of her body. Her face seems to have a few cuts too, but nothing horrible. Her Aura must've saved her.

"Mom… Is Marron gonna be okay?"

The grip she has on me tightens slightly before she answers. "… She's gonna live. And those cuts aren't too bad."

A sigh of relief escapes me. At least she isn't in any life threatening danger. "That's good. Now all we gotta do is wait for her to get better so we can go home." The expression on my mom's face darkens slightly.

"Jaune… The accident really hurt her. She's going to live, but…. I'm afraid she won't be able to walk ever again."

"… What?"

The matriarch of the Arc family takes a deep breath. "The damage to her spine is very serious. There's no way she'll be able to use her legs again. Her life as a Huntress is over."

The news is rather… unsettling. I stand up and walk to the side of Marron's bed and take her hand. "Is there no way she can walk again? Doesn't Atlas have some robo-legs they can give her?"

"Atlas does have the technology for it, but it isn't a matter of not being able to make her walk again." The puzzled expression on my face doesn't go unnoticed by her. "After she got out of surgery she told me something. She said that there was no need for her to get new legs. Because she didn't want to be a Huntress anymore."

"I see…" I already knew that, but I didn't expect it this soon. Maybe after a couple of weeks, but not the next day.

"You already knew, didn't you?"

"Guh!" The question catches me off guard. I might've showed to much acceptance at the news and caused myself to be suspicious. "Y-ya." I can't even look her in the eye.

"Ha…" She lets out a sigh, probably exhausted from the whole day. "I suppose I can't hold you accountable for this. Nor can I say the same for Marron. No, this entire situation is my own fault." Now mom's standing next to me, placing her hand with mine over Marron's. "I shouldn't have forced her to do this. Maybe if I had asked her what she wanted to do she wouldn't be so tormented."

Now even mom's crying. A few stray tears here and there, but not much. She's always been the strong woman of our family. For her to allow herself to be seen crying is a big deal. "It's not your fault mom. You know how she is. Whenever she's in trouble she tends to keep it to herself."

It seems that's enough to get a laugh out of her. "Ha ha. You're right. She's stubborn when it comes to things like this. I suppose it's something the two of you share."

"Like you're one to talk. If anything we get it from you."

We share a laugh together this time. It's good to know that we can make it through this. As a family at least.

"Mmmmm. Mm."

We're pulled from our conversation as Marron begins to wake up. Slowly, she opens her eyes. It takes her a moment to adjust to the darkness of the room, but soon she looks at the two of us.

"M-mom… Ja-Jaune…? Is that you…?"

"Marron!" I pull her hand close to me. "You're awake. Are you feeling alright?"

Weakly she nods with a faint smile. "Ya… I'm okay…" Her voice sounds dry. She probably hasn't had any water yet. Slowly, I help her up and give her the nearby up the nurse probably left.

She takes slow, long sips of the delicious H2O. She gets about halfway through the cup before signaling for me to stop. "Thank you." I help her lay back down and set the cup back on the table. "How are the others? Everyone okay?"

Mom speaks up from beside me, taking my place and Marron's hand. "They're okay. They're in the waiting room right now. We don't wanna crowd you so I'll call them in a few at time."

"That's fine." Nodding at mom, she turns to look at me, then back to mom. "Mom, can you leave the room for a second. I need to talk to Jaune."

For a moment I thought mom would argue, but she nods in compliance. Silently, she leaves the room and the two of us alone. As mom closes the door the two of us look at one another. Neither one of us say a word for a couple of seconds.

"So, what'd ya wanna talk about?"

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Even after exhaling she still has her eyes close. "I'm sure mom told you that I won't be able to walk anymore. And that I told her I don't wanna continue my Huntress training anymore."

"She did…" I rub the back of my head as I start to feel awkward. "I'm gonna be honest, I didn't expect you to tell her this soon."

"Considering what happened it seemed like the best time." Her comforting smile easies me some from my awkward feeling. "But that's not what I wanted to talk about."

Her expression turns serious again as we get back to what she wanted to ask me. "A little over a week ago mom brought me into the armory. She said she had something she wanted to give to me. When I got there she brought me over to the display case for Wado Ichimoji. She said the sword would be passed on to me. That I was worthy of wielding it."

This might be one of the most shocking things I've heard today. For mom to pass of the family's greatest sword is a huge thing to hear. Not even mom herself was deemed worthy of wielding the sword, and she's one of the top 10 Huntresses in the world.

"At the time I wasn't too happy about it. But after today I think it might've been for the best. The sword is still technically mine to wield, and that also means I can do with it as I please." That makes sense. Even though she can't wield the sword as a warrior anymore it's still hers and mom can't say anything about it now.

"Which is why I'm passing the sword onto you."

… What?

"Ma-Marron? I'm s-sorry, but can you repeat that?"

"I said, I'm passing the sword onto you. I've already talked to mom about it after I came out of surgery, so she's already complied with this."

I shoot out of my chair so fast that it falls to the ground with a loud thud. "B-b-bu-but you can't do that! I'm a male! The sword may be yours, but to pass it onto someone like me is unheard of! No one in the history of our family has ever done something like this before!"

She reaches out and takes my hand again to try and calm me. "I know that it's unheard of, but so are the things you've done Jaune. You've been training with us for less time than I have, and yet you've already caught up to us. The fact that you're a boy says all the more on how strong you are."

No words leave me. There's nothing I can say. I'm too stunned by the entire event to even give a retort. Marron pull me closer towards her, forcing me to pull my chair back up so I can sit closer.

"Jaune, you said you wanted to become the greatest swordsman in the world, right?" My words are still failing me, so I simply nod. "Then I believe the best swordsman in the world needs the best sword in the world. The two of you would make a great pair together, I'm sure of it."

"Marron…." My eyes start to water some. It seems Marron's in the same state as she starts to cry with me.

"And as you go on to become the greatest swordsman, I'll be right there with you every step of the way."

The grip I have on her hand tightens. She pulls me in closer and brings her other arm around to pull me into a hug. I bring my arms around her to hug her back, careful not to squeeze to hard and hurt her.

"I promise you, that no matter what stands in my way I'll keep getting stronger and stronger. Until the day when I can yell out to the world that I'm the greatest swordsman in the world. And when they look at me they'll see me wielding the sword that you gave to me."

"I'm sure you will."

This was it. The start of my journey to become the greatest swordsman in the world, and the beginning of a series of events that will change the world forever.


	3. Left or Right?

**Hey everyone. I'm back. This chapter will be the Segway into the adventure that Jaune will embark on along with some not so subtle hits to his past life.**

 **Please leave a comment and tell me what you think.**

 **The Blond Swordsman**

 **Ch. 2 Left, or Right?**

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The wind blows in across the field. I stand several feet across my opponent. Her silver hair sways with the passing breeze in such an elegant manner. Ordinarily I would be distracted by the sheer beauty of this, but I'm in a fight right now. There's no time to focus on anything else.

My opponent brandishes her katara knife, Coup de foudre, in each hand. They're modified knives with pistol attachments on either side of the blade. Then there's the function within the blade itself.

I shift my left foot forward slightly before kicking off with my back right. The speed I'm traveling at would be impossible for any normal person to follow, but my opponent isn't normal. She fires several rounds my way. Any shot that doesn't miss me is deflected by my sword, the sword that was given to me nearly 7 years ago, Wado Ichimoji.

With the distance between us closing I pull out the two other blades from the sheaths on my right hip. They're both nameless, and nowhere near the same quality as Wado Ichimoji, but they're still strong blades forged with strong material.

With the drawing of my two other blades I put my prized sword in my mouth before I get within striking range. My opponent attacks first with a short barrage of jabs at my left side. Leaping to the right I strike at her exposed left side. She jumps back before the blade can fully sink in, but still gets a shallow slash across her side.

I rush her before she has time to get her bearings. I bring both swords in my hand down together in an overhead attack. She's able to just barley block the attack as her knees buckle. She holds her current position before pushing me back slightly.

The two of us each begin to deliver our own attacks to one another. Now it's just a clash of sparks and steel. Back and forth we continue to attack only to be blocked. Eventually she disengages and jumps into air. She seems to load a different type of bullet into the chamber of her pistol as she opens fires.

And by open fire I mean that literally. A stream of flames spew from her weapon and causes a wall of fire to block her from view. I give myself some distance from the flames and see where she's run to.

An odd whirring sound comes from the other side of the wall. It sounds like a motor being warmed up. Next thing I know there's a hole in the flames. Something's coming at me at high speeds. I'm just barely able to dodge it, but it still cuts my check as it passes.

The shot travels past me and hits the tree line behind me. Several trees are knocked over from the electrically charged attack and crash into the dirt. The flame wall begins to die down revealing my opponent's method of attack.

The blade of one of her knives has split revealing a small barrel inside. With the residual electricity surrounding the barrel I'm left to assume that it must be a short barreled railgun. She begins to charge up another shot. With the distance between us I won't be able to cover the distance in time before she fires.

I need to attack with a long range attack of my own to match her. Sheathing the two swords in my hand I pull Wado from my mouth with my right hand. I bring the sword over my right shoulder and have my left hand grab my wrist from added support.

" **One Sword Style:**

The charge for the railgun finishes as she readies to fire. The shot bursts from the gun at great speed. It's my turn now. I swing down with the added support of my left and create a vacuum strike.

 **36 Caliber Phoenix!"**

The vacuum travels at such a speed that it meets the charge railgun shot in the middle of the two of us. When the ranged attacks collide it causes a shockwave to the surrounding area. Where the attacks met is torn up, leaving a small crater.

Using the confusion the attacks leave behind I charge ahead. Drawing out the two swords once again. As I draw closer I notice that my opponent is still stunned. With the added stress of firing two consecutive shots it must be putting stress on her.

I'm already on her before she even has time to fully become aware I'm coming at her. I bring the two swords in front of my chest in an X pattern and place the sword in my mouth behind them.

" **Three Sword Style:**

With great precision I strike with all three simultaneously. All three attack land, causing great damage to her Aura.

 **Oni Giri!"**

Seems that was enough to put her down as she collapses to the field.

"That's the match!" A voice calls out from my right. My mother's standing there with a monitor in hand. On it is displayed a meter for my opponent, my older sister Argente's, Aura. My mother runs over to check on my fallen sister. After looking her over she breathes a sigh of relief.

"She's alright. Just a little dizzy from being knocked down by that attack." With her conformation I join the two.

"Sorry about that sis. I didn't mean to hurt you that badly." This may be a spar with an opponent with Aura, but my attacks still have the power to deal serious damage.

Argente tries to get to her feet with the support of my mother and gives me a weak smile. "You don't have to apologize, Jaune. This might've been a spar, but it's also a fight. Someone was bound to get hurt. Though I believed it would be you rather than myself."

I help my sister and throw her other arm around my shoulder. "To be fair you did leave a scratch on me." I give her a cheeky smile that quickly earns me a light jab to the ribs.

"That attack should've done more than leave a scratch. The flames might've blocked my view, but I still could tell where you were. The fact that you dodged it shows how quick of a reaction time you have."

A laugh nervously at the compliment. "It was kinda hard actually. Speaking of which, when did you add the railgun? You didn't have it the last time we sparred."

Argente can now stand on her own feet, if only with a slight limp. "I added them a month ago. In combat school it became apparent that I needed an ace up my sleeve if I wanted to have the edge over some opponents. I thought to use it to catch you off guard, but it seems that failed as well."

"If we're on the subject of secret techniques." This time it's my mother that speaks up. She's carrying Argente's weapons for her as she's too weak to do it herself. "Where did you learn such a technique, Jaune?"

"Ah, well…" I scratch the back of my head as I come under the gaze of the two Arc women. "I figured that I'd be facing people with long ranged attacks, so I needed one as well. So, I made a move to deal with them."

Both women sigh, exhausted from dealing with me. "You went off and made another weird technique then. Why am I not surprised?"

"He named this one after an animal too, mother." Argente butts in to our conversation. "I'm starting to sense a pattern with the techniques he uses."

"Shut up! I like animals, so what!?" Don't blame me for having things I like!

Mom puts her hand on my head to try and stop me from blowing my top. "Relax sweetie. No one's trying to make fun of you. We're just teasing."

I take the high road and decide to simply ignore them. I'm not sulking. Totally not. "Why don't we just head inside already? The others are probably waiting for us."

"He's right. I'm sure they have the party ready by now." Mom leads the way back towards the house. To days a special day after all. It's not every day you turn 14.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Happy Birthday Dear Marron and Jaune!"

"Happy Birthday to you!"

A thunderous applause erupts from the Arc household. My families gathered around the dinner table as dad cuts the cake. Each one of us gets an equal slice, though Marron and mine are slightly bigger. The perks of being the birthday kids.

The meal's loud as always. Everyone's talking with one another, and each one is trying to talk over the others. The loudest ones are Dore and Verte. The two are arguing over who gets the last piece of chicken.

After we're all finished eating everyone brings out their gifts. Noire and Blanch come back first with a piece of paper in each of their hands.

"Here! Here!"

"Take ours first!"

Taking the piece of paper I notice it's a drawing. The drawing looks like Noire's riding on my shoulders while I slice apart a giant Ursa. Meanwhile, Blanch is riding on Marron's shoulder… well _shoulder_.

Instead of being in her regular wheel chair, Marron's fully suited up in a giant mech like armor. She stands several feet taller than me with a litany of missiles, guns, swords, chain-saw, missile swords, chain-saw guns, etc.

Honestly, hers looks a bit cooler than mine. A bit.

"Thanks for the drawing girls."

"Yes, it's quite lovely. I especially love the laser cannon in the chest piece."

The twins seem happy with our praise. Violette's next. She brings us each a box about the size of our hands.

"I'm not sure if you two will like then, but I put all my love into them." Violette's sweet smile warms my heart every time she shows it. I'm sure that even the Grimm would be burned by the shining beauty of that smile.

We unwrap our gifts and open the boxes. Inside of mine is a small plushie that looks like me with tiny swords sown to the hands and mouth. Marron's is similar with her riding in a wheel chair made of popsicle sticks. Both are hand made with an embroidery in their backs.

' _Big brother Jaune'_

' _Big sis Marron'_

"Ah, thanks so much Violette. They're beautiful." Marron gives our younger sister a hug. It's heartwarming to see that our younger sister cares about us so much.

"She's right. These are amazing. You have an amazing talent for sewing."

"Thank you. I had a lot of fun making them."

Dad pats Violette's head. "It's lovely sweetie. Now it's your turn Verte. What'd you get your siblings?"

The oldest of the younger sibling's fidgets in place. She's holding something behind her back, but I can't tell what. She walks up to me and hands me a box. It's small, smaller than Violette's. Opening it up I pull out a red string. It's a necklace with a locket hanging off it.

"Wo Verte, this is cool. Did you buy this somewhere? Because the string looks like it was hand made. Did you make thi—"

I'm cut short with a punch to the gut. "Sh-shut up! Why would I take the time to make something for you myself? Stupid brother!" Her face is bright red now. I must've made her pretty angry.

"What about my present Verte? Don't tell me you forgot about your big sister."

Verte turns away and scoffs slightly. "Ya ya. I got you something." I have no idea why, but Marron and Verte just don't seem to get along very well these days. They used to get along pretty well until a few years ago.

Verte was always clingy to me. With Marron no longer training anymore she had more time to do other things. She would spend time in the kitchen we remodeled so she could use it from her wheel chair. Every day she would make me a snack or lunch. For some reason Verte started to get mad that I was getting handmade food from her. At first I thought it was because she wanted some to, but her anger was usually directed at Marron, not me.

Marron wasn't much help either. She seemed to passively egg on our younger sister, saying things like with her being my twin that she knew me best, and other such things. Ever sense then the two have been fighting a silent war.

"Here you go." Verte throws my twin her gift. Inside's a ring made of steel with a simple swirl design on top. "I saw it at a shop in town. Figured you'd want it." She's complete nonchalant about the give. She probably just saw it and bought it because it was cheap.

To her credit Marron doesn't seem upset by it. On the surface at least. "Oh my, it's so lovely. I'm sure you put a great deal of effort into it. You aren't some snobby child that would buy a cheap gift just to get it over with after all."

Verte doesn't have a retort and sits down on the couch, fuming at the subtle jabs to her ego. Dore senses the tension in the air and tries to move everyone along. "Here, open my gifts next."

Dore's gift to Marron is a diamond encrusted golden bracelet. The accessory gives off a slight glow, practically radiating the expensive taste it holds. "Dore, where did you get the money for something like this?"

"Don't worry 'bout it. I just won it off a rich kid at Signal in a bet." She seems proud of the fact that she practically stole it from a kid that was in over her head. Trying to win a bet with Dore is like trying to beat a shark in a swimming contest. Even adults lose to her.

"Please tell me I'm not gonna get a complaint from someone's parent. I have enough trouble dealing with last year's complaints." Every year mom gets complaints from outraged parents over the actions of Dore.

In her usual manner she pushes the subject side. "No problem. She was too embarrassed to tell anyone about the bet in the first place, so I doubt she'll tell her parents." Mom sighs tiredly before conceding defeat.

Dore reaches down into a bag and hands me the box she pulled out. "Here's yours little bro. I figured you would need this the most."

Taking off the wrapping reveals another box with the words GPS. "Really? A tracking device? I know you guys think I have a bad sense of direction, but this is taking it a little far." Every time I wanna go out somewhere they insist on going with me. It took them nearly a year just to let me go down to the river by myself.

"Oh, that's such a great gift Dore. Thank you for getting that for him. I'm sure Jaune will appreciate it the next time he gets lost." Mom praises her for the joke gift. They really need to stop with this running gag. It's starting to get old. Even if I do get lost it's because you guys give such bad directions.

"I'm surprised you could actually get such a useful gift for someone. Here I thought you were just going to get him a t-shirt or something of the sort." Even the ever serious Argente herself is complementing the gift now. The world must be about to end if she's going along with such a childish joke.

The laid back sister ignores the insult and takes the rare complement. The eldest of the Arc siblings returns to the matter of handing out gifts and grabs something from the inside of her pocket. "I already gave Jaune his gift with our match earlier." She reveals an envelope from inside her waist coat and hands it to Marron. "It took quite a bit of trouble to get these. I hope you enjoy them."

Marron peels open the envelope and pulls out four tickets. "I can't believe it! You were able to get four tickets for the Vytal festival next year this early!?"

Argente shows a rare sign of arrogance at my twin's outburst. "As I said, it was rather difficult. I had to use several connections to get these, along with the help of a certain ex-heiress. Hopefully these will be useful to you."

Marron wheels over and pulls her stern sister into a tight hug. She thanks her repeatedly while threatening to suffocate the poor older girl. Marron's been trying to see the fights at the Vytal festival in person for a while now, but money's been tight.

"I suppose it's our turn honey."

"Your right dear. Why don't you go get Marron's gift? I'll give Jaune his while we wait." Dad heads mom's words and heads outside the house to get Marron's gift. I already know what it is though so I won't be surprised. Us twins don't really get each other gifts because it might cause some complications. So, instead we help our parent's when they pick out each-others gift. This year they got her a new wheel chair with a built in seat warmer and tv. Money might be tight, but for their kid's birthday they'll push their budget to the limit.

As we wait my twin wheels over towards me and takes my hand. Seems whatever they got me this year must be pretty big if she's this excited. "Alright sweetie, here's your gift. I hope you like it. Marron herself suggested it."

It makes sense for Marron to be this anxious if she's the one who thought of it. The wrapping's different from the other gifts. Instead of a box it's covered in wrapping paper. It's fairly big, about the size of both my hands. Tearing the tissue open I see a bandana laying inside.

The bandana's pure white with the Arc symbol in the center of it. Picking it up I notice the fabric feels familiar. I can't place it, but there's a sense of nostalgia with it. Almost like I'm holding an old friend again.

"Your father made that from your old baby blanket. The thing was laying around and was slightly weathers, so he fixed it up into a bandana for you to wear." I take the accessory from the wrapping and look it over. Even with everything this thing has been through dad was able to put it back into good shape.

I wrap the bandana around my head. It seems to fit perfectly. Almost like it's supposed to be there. Another sense of nostalgia fills me, though it's not the same as before. This one feels much… older. Almost like something I was born with. I got the same feelings when I picked up Wado Ichimoji for the first time and started using my three sword style. Like it's supposed to be like this.

"Thanks mom, dad, Marron, I love it. Hopefully now I can keep the sweat out of my eyes when I fight." I give them both a hug for the gift as dad returns with Marron's ne wheel chair. She's even more excited than when she got the tickets, though she does seem concerned with how much it costs. Mom and dad wave it off, saying that no gift is too much for their daughter.

The rest of the evening's rather quiet as we sit down and watch movies the rest of the day. After dinner Argente and Dore turn in early. They have to get up early to catch flights back to their combat schools. Argente has to fly all the way to Atlas for hers so she'll at least have the time to sleep during the ride.

Before long everyone says goodnight to each other and turn in. I lay down with my swords leaning against the foot of my bed and start to drift off to sleep. Argente and Dore will be gone in the morning by the time I wake up so I made sure to say goodbye to them.

Little did I know that that would be the last time I would see them for many years.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

It's midday now and I'm training in the front yard with my usual training weights. I say usual but to most others it seems like anything but. I'm swinging a metal bar with several weighted plates on it. A normal person couldn't so much as lift this thing, let alone swing it. Even Huntresses like mom have some difficulty swinging it around.

My usual work out consists of me doing 2000 swings before moving onto workouts like squats, push up hand stands, and pull ups, each using roughly the same amount of weight or more than what I'm using now.

"Jaune." I hear my dad's voice call out from behind me. He's inside the kitchen window. I set down the weights and walk over to him. "Listen son, I need you to do something for me. I need you to run to the next village over and pick up something for me. Your mother went with Argent and Dore to see them off and I don't feel right having the other girls go. I wouldn't ask this of you if I didn't need it."

He looks at me with a concerned expression. As though he expects something to go wrong. "No problem dad. I'll head out soon."

"Good good." His words don't quite fit his body language as he still seems unsure. "Just make sure and take your new GPS with you. I don't want you getting lost along the way."

"Come on dad. You guys really need to let that joke die. My sense of direction isn't that bad."

"Still, it'd make me feel better to know that you're on the right path."

I let out a tired sigh as I scratch my head in mild frustration. "Fine. I'll make sure and take it with me. Just give me a list of what you need and I'll head out."

He takes out a piece of paper and jots down something onto it and hands it to me. "Remember, just there and back. You don't need to wander around looking for trouble."

"Ya ya, I got it." After cleaning up my weights I head inside and pick up the GPS from my desk. After changing clothes I head out the door and say goodbye to dad. He tells me again to use the GPS. He really seems to push that on me.

As I leave the village gates I look at the device to see how it works. Only to notice that it's dead. Seems like I forgot to charge it last night. Oh well, not like I need it. I put the GPS back in my pocket and make my way to the village.

After some time I come to a fork in the road. The signs are worn out so I can't make out what they say. "What was the way dad said to go? I think he said it was to the right?" Following dad's instructions I turn right and continue on my way to the village.

Because I went right. Not LEFT. RIGHT.


	4. Traveling

**The Blond Swordsman**

 **Ch. 3 Traveling**

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

I've been on my extended errand run for a while now. It was such an easy trip at first. All I had to do was head over to the next village. I even followed those bloody signs. Darn things must be backwards because I've only gotten farther away from home. I'm further to the southwest of Sanus now.

Along the way I picked up some jobs by exterminating Grimm near villages. Most villagers were hesitant at first to trust that I could even kill a Grimm, let alone an entire pack. I suppose it didn't help that I'm 14 years old. That quickly changed when I cut down several Beowolves in a single strike.

The pay was fair for the most part. Helped buy me new clothes when my old ones got torn. Now I wear a short-sleeved hoodie with my bandana wrapped around my right bicep and a simple pair of loose fitting blue pants. Also bought myself some cleaning equipment from a general store to do maintenance on my swords. A good swordsman always takes care of his swords after all.

Some of the villages along the way had girls my age in them that tried to get me to stay. They were kinda weird about it too, getting really close to me and promising something good if I stayed. The way they got close to me reminded me of how Marron started to act after the accident, which seemed odd but I didn't say anything.

The last village I was at had a map with the villages location compared to the rest of the world. I'm now somehow closer Vacuo than Vale at this point. I'm sure my families worried about me, so I should try and get somewhere to contact them soon.

One of the good things that came with this side trip was the experience I was getting from all the Grimm I was killing. Before I could only fight the stray Beowolf or Ursa that came close to the village, so at least something good's coming out of this. Even came up with a couple new moves with it.

Right now, I'm continuing to try and get back home. I've given up on following the signs and have started relying on my natural sense of direction. It shouldn't be too hard to find my way home using that, the only reason I ever get lost is because someone gives me bad directions anyways.

While walking down the road I hear screams from up ahead. I break into a sprint and come across a large vehicle under attack from a mixed group of Beowolves and Ursa. There looks to be 7 Beowolves and 4 Ursa. A young woman with short black hair and tanned skin stands at the back of the car, holding a spear to keep the monsters at bay.

"Back! Get back you monsters!" The woman thrusts forward as a Beowolf swipes at her. Another Beowolf uses the opening to knock away her weapon, causing it to go sailing towards me. With nothing left to defend herself with she'll easily be picked off by the next attack. As if on que one of the Ursa from the back charge in, preparing to crush the poor woman.

" **Three sword style**

Covering the distance between myself and the group I pull my swords out and bring the swords in my hand behind my back. I appear between the defenseless woman and the attacking Ursa, preparing my own attack.

 **Tiger Hunt!"**

When the Ursa gets close enough I slash down with the swords behind my back, cutting the beast down. The corpse of my defeated foe sails behind us and splits on either side of the vehicle. The rest of the Grimm take notice of my appearance and prepare to avenge their fallen comrade.

The first to fall's a Beowolf that tried to flank me from my left. I quickly cut its head off before moving on to the two charging me from the front. A swift horizontal swing of my blade bisects the two, along with a hidden Beowolf behind them. Now it's 3 Beowolf's and Ursa each.

This time it's an Ursa that tries its hand, or paw I suppose, at taking me down. It swings down with a tremendous force. I cut off the offending paw before it lands and move on to the Ursa itself. Jumping up I cut right into the mask of the demonic bear, bringing down the number of Grimm from 6 to 5.

I need to finish this fast, or else I risk one of them attacking the woman. Sheathing Wado and gripping the two swords in my hands I charge at the remaining Grimm.

With a quick spin and a few slashes, I cut through the beasts like a hot knife to butter.

" **Two Sword Style:** **Hawk Wave!"**

They stand there for a moment before they explode in a burst of black mist. They soon dissipate into nothingness, as if they were never here in the first place. As I sheath my swords and check on the woman. "You alright ma'am?"

"Uh…?" She seems dumbfounded by what just happened. She looks up at me with a confused expression before realizing I asked a question. "Oh, yes! I'm fine. Just a little weak in the knees."

Offering my hand, she takes it and stands up. She has slight trouble standing at first, but soon gathers her bearings. "Thank you for helping me. Those Grimm came out of nowhere and caught me off guard. If you hadn't come along when you did I don't know what would've happened."

"I'm sure you would've given them a run for their money. I saw you put up a decent fight against them when I got here."

Her cheeks are dusted a light red now. Probably embarrassed from my complement. "That might be too much of a complement. I may be a woman, but I don't have my Aura unlocked. Unlike someone like you of course."

"Um… I'm actually a man." This is usually the reaction I get when people see me fight for the first time. Some were harder to convince than others. Once I almost had to pull down my pants to get them to believe me.

She stares at me with that same confused expression from before. "A-a man? But how can that be? You took out those Grimm like they were nothing!"

At first it was embarrassing to hear their surprise at my strength. Now it's starting to get annoying. "Just because I'm a man doesn't mean I can't be strong too."

"Yes, well… I suppose that could be true. Though it's kinda hard to believe given that men can't wield Aura." She's one of the polite ones at least. Some laugh at my stance on men and strength. Not that I don't see where they're coming from, but it's still enough to cause me a mild annoyance.

"I get that a lot. So, what're you doing out here by yourself? Seems kinda reckless to travel like this."

She walks over to the back of her wagon and rummages through some boxes. "I'm actually a merchant. I'm on my way to Vacuo to sell what I've got on me right now. Recently there's been a fad of Huntresses in training wanting to embroider their equipment with their emblems and I have a surplus of sowing equipment."

Humming in understanding I look through some of the wares she has in sight. Aside from the sewing equipment and fabric there's also some vases, pots, cups, bowls, and other household accessories. They seem like they're in good condition and made from quality material. Should fetch for a good price if she finds the right buyer.

She covers her wares again and closes the tail gate of the wagon before turning back to me. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you out here? You're strong, sure, but it still seems odd for you to be out here for no reason."

Now it's my turn to be embarrassed. Telling someone that you got lost and have been wandering the continent isn't the best way to start a conversation. "Actually, I got lost on the when I went out to run some errands. I've been trying to get back home ever since."

"Oh, that's horrible. Where do you live? Maybe I can help you find your way back?" She pulls out a map from her pocket and opens it up. "Why don't you point out where your village is? I should be able to help you get back then."

Looking over the map for the area my home should be I point to it on the map. "Right there."

"You live there!?" She raises her voice in surprise after finding out where I live. "That's all the way near Vale! How on Remnant did you end up all the way down here!? How long have you been lost!?"

"What day is today?"

She stares dumbfounded for a moment before responding. "I-it's Thursday."

"I've been lost for six months."

"SIX MONTHS!?" Ow, the yelling's back. I feel like I should ask her to quiet down so we don't attract more Grimm, but after living with 8 women for 14 years I've come to notice that they don't like being told what to do. "How have you been lost for six months? Wouldn't someone come looking for you?"

I scratch the back in frustration. "I kept following the signs on how to get back home, but every time I did it just sent me further away. Someone must've mess with them or something." That or they just had a terrible sense of direction in the first place.

"That sounds… terrible." She puts on an awkward smile. Putting the map back in her pocket she walks over to the front of the car. "Well, I can't take you all the way back. Maybe I can offer you a ride to Vacuo? That way you can call you family and let them know you're okay. It should only take a couple of weeks to reach it from here."

That doesn't sound too bad. I'm already all the way down here. Might as well go all the way and see what Vacuo's like. Plus, I could get a look at what the Huntresses are like around here. Maybe find a good fight.

"Are you sure though? You just met me. For all you know I could be a bandit." Mom said strangers are just friends you haven't met yet, but she seems almost too trusting.

Her reply is a sweet smile and a pat on the shoulder. "If you were a bandit it would've made more sense to let the Grimm eat me before taking the contents of my wagon. Plus, someone as cute as you can't be a scary bandit."

My face heats up at her rather open opinion of me. "We-well! Either way, it's not good to trust someone when you don't even know their name." After a deep breath I try to compose myself before extending my hand. "My name's Jaune D. Arc. It's nice to meet you."

She takes my hand with a firm grip and gives it a hard shake. "Names Ebony, Ebony Traverse. I hope we get along." She lets go of my hand and hopes up into the driving. "I may be giving you a ride, but don't think it's for free. I'll leave the safety of my wares, and me, up to you."

That seems like a fair deal. She's already seen that I'm capable so she might as well get a free bodyguard out of it. I walk to the back of the car again and hop in. The car sets off and we begin our travel to Vacuo.

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The gates of the city of Vacuo are coming into view. After stopping by one of the security checkpoints to get the car and sales permit we continue into the city. It's been almost a month since I joined Ebony on her trip to Vacuo. Originally it should've only have taken a month, but the front axle of the car broke and we need to stop in a town to fix it.

After we fixed the axel a storm settled in, so Ebony decided to stay in the village until it passed. The storm caused trouble on the road even after it passed. Tree's had fallen on the path and caused us to go around them. Or it would've if I hadn't cut every one of them into logs for us to use as fire wood.

Ebony tried to apologize for the set back, but I brushed them aside. If I had decided to walk to Vacuo myself it would've taken much longer than a month by myself.

The security gate passes over the vehicle as we make our way through the city towards the area where we can park it. The entire outer part of the city is bustling with people. Stalls line our path with different merchants selling their products. Some are more forceful than others.

"It's pretty loud, isn't it?" Ebony speaks up from beside me. She's directing the car while trying to avoid running into anyone. "It's a lot to take in, but I'm sure you'll get used to it."

Humming in agreement I continue to look at my surroundings. Another 20 minutes pass until we get to the parking area for the car. I help Ebony unload her products before heading off. "Thanks for getting me here. Hopefully next time I hitch a ride with you it's in something that doesn't breakdown every 5 miles."

I think I can see the actual tick mark on her head. After the axel broke on the way here she threw a fit. Threatening to shove her foot in certain places that shouldn't be placed. "Well, next time you can just walk if it's that much of an inconvenience. No need to bother riding in my rickety clunker."

Seems I upset her. Oh well, she'll get over it… hopefully. The trip here was nice overall. It would be rude of me not to at least show my appreciation. "Still, you helped me out. It probably would've taken longer without you."

She stops fuming after giving her my thanks. Her face turns a bit red from embarrassment. "Well, at least your showing some respect. Good to see your parents raised to treat your elders right. Which reminds me."

Ebony looks through a small strong box that was kept under the driver seat. She pulls out a small piece of parchment along with a stamp. Pressing the stamp on the sheet of paper she hands it over to with a smile. "That's a small bonus for protecting me along the way."

The sheet of paper is rather plan with only a few words on it. The stamp's logo is that of a wagon wheel on a road. "What's this?" Nothing seems that special about the paper, though I'm sure it must be if she left a stamp on it.

The slight arrogant look on the young merchant's face says that she's about to impart her wise words onto this ignorant boy. "That there is an official signature for the merchant guild in the city. You said you worked some small security guard jobs before you met me. With that you should be able to get in the door on the guild and see if anyone needs a bodyguard right now. Figured you'd need some money to get back home."

I look at the important piece of paper with a rather… passive view. "It's nice that you're giving this to me, but I doubt I'd need it. All I gotta do is call my family and they'll wire me some money to spend on a ride home. If they don't come and get me themselves that is." Mom might very well storm all the way to Vacuo by herself just to yell my ear off for believing those stupid signs.

"Hmmm, either way it's yours to use as you see fit. I don't have a say in what you do with it. You can burn it up for all I care." She seems rather nonchalant about me turning down her gift. I suppose that's just how she is. I don't know her very well after all.

"Well, I'm gonna be heading out then. Thanks again for the ride." Pocketing the paper, I grab my bag of belongings and throw them over my shoulder. Strapping my swords to my hip I get ready to set out to the CCT to call my family.

"Remember to follow the map I made for you! Don't get lost on the way!" Ebony calls out one last time as I wave goodbye. She seemed insistent on making a map for me after a few weeks of traveling with her. Even spent long hours into the night making sure I memorized the map.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

It's been probably an hour now since I left Ebony to head to the CCT. The long, complicated, streets of the city caused me slight confusion at first. The tower could be seen above the roof tops. Even considered just making a straight path by destroying any wall in my way, but that was quickly brushed aside when I considered how much it'd cost for repairs.

Right now, I'm walking a back road and trying to follow the map the best I can. Any directions I ask for just lead to some random building or a dead end. Which brings me to my current predicament.

"Hand over everything you've got. And those pretty swords while you're at it." A small gang of women and men are currently trying to ask me for my belongings. There's about 4 women and 2 men that look around their early 20's, each with either a blade or handgun.

I scratch the back of my head as I look them over. "Excuse me, can I ask you girls for directions?" Not like that's helped until now, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

The woman closest to me that previously asked me for my stuff seems more irritated now for some reason. "Shut up! Just hand over your money and we'll let you go. Though if you give us anymore lip we may just have to rough you up some."

She flashes me a vicious grin. The rest behind her look like they're about ready to fight someone and begin to block the exit from the alley.

"Hold up there!" A voice calls out suddenly from above. Looking up I notice a figure standing on top of one of the roof tops. The figure jumps down, grabbing onto any ledges and fire escapes on the side of buildings to help get down. Landing on the ground, the figure reveals itself to be a short blond girl with a matching colored monkey tail.

The new arrivals back is facing me so I can't see her face. She puts her hand up in a stopping motion. "If you're gonna try and rob someone at least don't do it in broad daylight where everyone can see it."

I cocked my head to the side as a sudden realization comes to mind. "They're trying to mug me?" I suppose it makes sense now that I look at it. Explains why they have guns and swords.

The new arrival stumbles at my question and turns to me slowly. Now that I look at her, she has deep blue eyes and a tan complexion. She's wearing a plain white button up shirt with only two buttons in the middle to hold the shirt together. Her pants are jeans with scratches and holes in them, whether they're there on purpose or not I don't know.

Her expression looks like a mixture of confused and dumfounded. "Did you… just realize that?" I give her a slow nod. She looks like she's about to collapse from exhaustion, even though she hasn't done much. "Wow, you're not the smartest guy are ya?"

"Hey, I'll have you know I get very high grades in school. I'm even the top of my class." Or I was. Missing several months of school probably did a number on my GPA. Before that I did fairly well. Mom wouldn't let me train unless I did my homework so I had the right motivation at least.

A gun shot rings out in the alley. The leader of the small gang points the still smoking revolver up into the air. Her face is bright red. I think she's about to blow a blood vessel. "Stop ignoring us! There may be one more of you, but that just means there's more to steal. I'm giving you one more chance before we kill you."

Geez, she's really ticked off now. The rest of her group looks more confused than anything, but they follow their bosses lead and level their weapons at us. The blond girl slow inches towards me and stops to my right.

"Psst. You know how to use those swords? Cause it looks like you might need to use them." She bends over and grabs a long stick from the ground to use as an impromptu staff. "I don't think they have Aura, so it should be easy to make a break for it and run."

I grip the handle of my swords and get into a stance. "Run? Why run? If they don't have Aura we can just knock them out." Shouldn't be too hard since they're not Huntresses, especially the men in the back.

"You must be crazy." She looks like she's starting to sweat a bit from the pressure of the situation. "They still outnumber us. Plus, they got guns, no way can we take them on."

Sounds more like a challenge to me. The monkey girl prepares to make her move as the gang begins to get more anxious. "Fine then! Get'em!" Seems the boss finally had enough. Two of the women charge at us with short swords from both sides. Blondie uses the pole to jump into the air and step on the face of the woman on the right. Using the woman as a spring board she jumps onto the wall and over the group towards the back where the two men wait.

The other woman still charges at me, not knowing the condition of her comrade. She swings at me in a sloppy overhead strike. In a quick draw motion, I cut the sword she's wielding and deliver a strike to the back of her neck with the back of the sword. She falls to the ground unconscious with a thud.

The other assailant whose face was used as a spring board recovers from her surprise and looks for the offender. With no one else in sight she focuses on me with a furious gaze. "Ragh!" She roars at me with a lunge to stab me. An easy parry and another blow to the back of her neck and she joins her friend on the ground.

The remaining two women look on surprised at the events playing out. With two of their comrades down the boss orders the remaining woman to attack. She seems hesitant at first, but when her boss threatens to shoot her instead, she quickly complies. With a more composed stance then her first friend she attacks with an overhead slash. I block it easily and prepare to knock her out like the others.

Before I get the chance, I catch a glimpse of her boss pointing her gun at the two of us. Seems she doesn't care that her friend might get shot in the process. "Crap!" Mom probably wouldn't be too happy to know I said a curse word, but it seemed the most appropriate word in this situation.

Pushing against the woman I'm locked in combat with I force her against the wall. Her head smacks against the stone building, unprepared for the sudden push. Seems that was enough to knock her out as she falls to the ground. All that's left standing is the lone gunwoman and the two men.

The lone remaining woman looks livid now. Her hand holding the gun's shaking now, whether from rage or fear I don't know. "Damn it! You stupid brat! You should've just hand over your stuff, then none of this would've happened!"

"So, I was just supposed to give you my stuff without a fight?" I know that men aren't looked on that highly, but this group isn't that intimidating in the first place. Verte could take them down no problem with or without a weapon, and she's only 12…. or 13. It's been awhile since I've seen them so they probably celebrated her birthday already.

Another cock is heard from the gun. The leader's now trying her best to level the gun at me. "That's right! You're just a man! You're inferior to women in the first place!" The third bullet fires from the gun. It races towards me faster than the speed of sound. In a flash I cut the bullet mid-air when it enters my range.

Two smaller holes appear on the wall behind me from the bullet I just split. It takes a second for the gunwoman to comprehend what just happened. The gun falls from her loose hand. She's trembling now. This time the fear is obvious. Her knee's give out as she crumbles to the ground as the final member of her gang.

"How… how did you… do that?" Shock and fear dominate her now before she falls unconscious. I never had to land a physical strike on her it seems. She was too weak willed to deal with the challenge. Now all that's left to do is deal with the two men in the back.

Is what I wanted to say if one of them didn't just fall to my feet. "She has a point. How did you do that?" Looking down the alley I see the blond Faunus from earlier holding her staff out with the last guy unconscious at her feet. From her expression she seems less confused then the other girl at least.

With the fight done I sheath my sword. "I do a lot of training." That doesn't seem to be enough to convince her. Then again, it never is. I quickly tie-up the assailants with their own shirts before joining my assistant at the entrance to the alley. "Thanks for the help. Not that I needed it, but the thoughts appreciated."

"No problem, and I'm totally sure you had the whole thing under control." From her tone it's obvious she doesn't believe me. She finishes tying up the two guys she took down before holding out her hand. "The name's Mei, Mei Wukong."

I take her hand and give it a shake. "Jaune D. Arc. Nice to meet you."

"D. Why'd you add in the D?"

"It's just something our family does. I'm not sure why, but everyone on my mom's side has the same initial." I don't know many others outside of my direct family, but those I have met have D in their name too. I tried asking once why that was, but mom never gave me a straight answer.

"That's weird. Then again, you seem like a weird guy." Mei puts her hands behind her head in an easy-going manner. Now that I get a better look at her she's probably the same age Verte is, if not a year older. "What were you doing down here anyways?"

Why does everyone keep asking me that? Do they have any idea how difficult it is to always explain to them that someone gave me bad directions? "I got some bad directions to the CCT and ended up in this alley. That's when these girls jumped me."

Mei hums in acceptance and does a quick twirl. "That sucks. Why don't I show you the way? I got time to kill and it's already starting to get late." Sure enough the sun's starting to go down. If I don't hurry the phones may close at the CCT.

"That'd really help, thanks again."

"Alright then! Follow me. While we're walking you can tell me what type of training you did to cut a bullet like that."

I follow my guide along the winding path of the streets of Vacuo. Hopefully this time I'll actually get where I wanna go.

 **END**


	5. Independence

**Sup everyone. Here's the new chapter. Quick heads up, I change Solar's name to Mei after someone's suggestion. If anyone has good suggestions for name changes leave a review. Or just leave a review anyways to say how you feel.**

 **Also I have Lien being equal to Beli so there's that.**

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

 **The Blond Swordsman**

 **Ch. 4 Independence**

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"So, you've been lost for 7 months now? How is that even possible?" Mei is currently showing me to the CCT building so I can call my family to let them know where I'm at. Since it's gonna take a minute she decided to ask me where I'm from. It's pretty obvious I'm not from Vacuo, so I must stand out. Might explain why I was mugged earlier.

I told her how my dad asked me to run an errand for him to the next village, but the signs weren't marked so I got turned around and wound up in a different village. From there it was just a confusing journey of poorly told directions and faulty signs. "I don't know what to say. Maybe some god out there has something against me."

We continue to walk for a few more minutes. After talking some more I learn that Mei plans to be a Huntress. She's already started the training and will be entering a combat school soon. Turns out she is Verte's age.

"There it is. The CCT." Mei points out the tower as we get closer. It's huge, bigger than most of the other buildings in the city. Several people go in and out of the entrance in a rush. Many look to be business women and men trying to get to a meeting.

We walk up to the entrance of the large tower. "I'm gonna wait out here. Even if you tell your parents where you're at they can't get you immediately." Obviously, she doesn't know how determined my mom can be when her kids are in danger. "I'll show you to a cheap motel nearby to stay at."

"Thanks, that'd help a lot. I'll be right back." Giving a quick nod, I head inside. The inside somehow seems even bigger than the outside. A map shows that call can be made on one of the upper floors. Taking the elevator up brings me to another floor with dozens of consoles.

I walk to the front kiosk where a A.I. hologram of a young man with dark hair appears. **"Hello. How may I help you?"**

"I need to make a call to this number." I input the line for our family home. After looking the number over I'm directed to a screen to use. The line rings for a few seconds before someone finally picks up.

"Hello?" The image of my father appears on the screen. He looks a little worse for wear. Almost like he's been sleeping on the couch for 7 months. His beard's rough and there's bags under his eyes.

I give him an easy-going wave and a small smile. "Hey dad. How you've been?" His eyes go wide as he leaps from his chair. It crashed to the floor, causing a loud noise to echo through the call.

"J-J-Ja-Jaune!"

"Sup." My dad continues to stare dumbfounded for a few more seconds before bringing the chair back up and sitting down.

"Son, where are you?! Where've you been?! Are you okay?! You aren't hurt anywhere are you?!" A barrage of questions fire from his mouth. It takes me a second to figure out what he just said. I try and calm him down before he has a heart attack.

"I'm fine dad. I'm in Vacuo right now."

He somehow looks more confused than before. Before he can ask any more question's, he's knocked to the side by something. "What are you doing in Vacuo?!" That something ended up being my mom. Like dad, she has bags under her eyes and frazzled hair.

I give mom a short wave. "Hey mom. It's nice to see you." Her right eye twitches slightly as her face changes from concern to frustration in the blink of an eye.

"Don't you "Hey mom" me!" People nearby peer around their booths to see what the commotion's about. I give them a quick apology before returning to the call. "Do you have any idea how worried we were about you?! You've been gone for 7 months now!"

Suddenly I feel like a little kid again. A mother's unhappy gaze can make anybody reconsider their actions, even the most hardened criminals. "Sorry mom. I got lost following the signs and ended up farther away from home. To be fair, it wasn't my fault. Blame whoever out up those faulty signs."

None of this does anything to deter my mother's wrath. In fact, I think it just made her angrier. Her vein in the top corner of her head is pulsing now. Kinda reminds me of that gang leader from earlier. "Don't go blaming others for your own bad sense of direction. What happened to the GPS Dore bought for you?"

I pull out the aforementioned device to show them. Something else comes out of the bag and falls to the floor. "The battery wasn't charged. Looks like I forgot to charge it the night I got it."

The anger from mom's face begins to fade away. She lets out an exasperated sigh as her head falls into her hands. "Of course, you did. What did I expect?" She lifts her head back up and turns to look at dad's fallen form. "I suppose this is all your father's fault anyway. He should've known something like this would've happened if he left you alone."

A cry of disapproval can be heard from beneath the screen, but it's quickly silenced with a glare from the house matriarch. With dad silenced mom returns her attention to me. "Either way, now that we know where you are we can get you home. Just wait a few days and we'll come pick you up."

As she continues to talk, I bend over to pick up the paper that fell out. It turns out to be signature that Ebony gave me to help pick-up a job if I needed it. Now that my family's coming to get me I don't need it. I should just throw it away. But… for some reason I can't.

"Are you listening to me, young man?"

I snap back to the screen to see my mom's irritated expression return. "Mom, I have a request." While I was traveling my combat experience increased tremendously. At home I only got the rare spar with Argente, or if I was lucky my mom. Now though I've fought several different types of Grimm and even a few groups of bandits. If I go back, I won't be able to grow.

"What is it sweetie?" She seems curious as to what I'll ask, though the irritation can still be heard in her voice. Dad finally gets back up from the floor, rubbing the side of his head from when he fell.

This will be my only chance to make this request. She probably won't want to hear it, let alone consider it. But I need to try. If not for myself then for the promise I made to Marron. If I go back they'll probably never let me leave the house again without someone going with me. I'm sure they'd even trust Blanch or Noire more than me.

I take a deep breath and muster up my strength to look her in the eye. "I wanna keep traveling. I wanna see the world and see where I fit into it."

Silence is the only response I get for the longest time. My parents stare at me for half a minute before they show any sign of response. "What!? You want to _stay_ away from home!? Do you have any idea what you're saying?" This time it isn't anger in mom's voice. It's teeming with concern and worry. No anger can be seen on her face either, just a look, asking why.

It almost hurts to look at their faces when they have those expressions. I harden my resolve and stand my ground. If I falter here then that's the end of it. "These past 7 months have allowed me to get stronger then the past 7 years ever did. The experiences I've had helped me refine my techniques farther than training by myself and even helped me develop new ones while I was at it. If I come back now I'll just be stuck at home and halt any headway I've made."

"If it's about training I'm sure we can work something out." Dad steps forward this time. Like mom he shows no anger at my request. "We can see about hiring a trainer to come in and give you someone to spar against. Your mother has connections to very prominent Huntresses. One of them should be able to help you out when your mother isn't around."

That sounds nice. I probably would've taken it before I ended up on this trip. But after being exposed to the greater world it's become obvious that I'll gain more from seeing more of it then continuing to train in that empty field.

"My minds made up. I'm begging you to let me do this. I know I'm still young, but you know I'm not an ordinary kid." My words of reassurance seem to do little to sway them. Dad looks to mom to talk me down as the matriarch of the Arc household looks into my eyes. She stares deeper into my eyes than ever before, even more then when I told her I wanted to be a swordsman.

Eventually, she lets out an exasperated sign. She rubs her temple to calm whatever headache she must have from the grand request I've asked of her. "Fine. We'll allow you to continue traveling." The shock on dad's face says that he wasn't expecting that. He places his hand on her shoulder to show he doesn't agree. Mom gently places her hand over his and looks up to him. "You know how hard headed he is. If we deny him here it'll just cause him to lash out later on. It's best to let him do this for now. If he decides to return home then it's all the same."

Even with the reassurance from mom the father of 8 still looks conflicted. Realizing he won't win this battle he concedes and shrinks back. Mom returns her attention to me with the serious expression from before. "If you're going to travel by yourself, I'll need you to agree to some conditions. First, you have to call us once a week at the least. Second, I'll need an update on how you're progressing with your training. Knowing how strong you're getting will give us some reassurance that you're doing alright. Finally, if you run into any problems I want you to call us. Whether it's a cold or broken bone you will call us. If you can't agree to any of these then I'll come to drag you back myself."

With those conditions set I don't feel that they'll limit m training in any way. The only thing that's concerning is the need to call them every week. On the way here, I ran into several villages that were outside the range of the CCT, which would make it more difficult to fulfill that condition, not that that'll deter mom.

I give her a nod to show that I agree to the terms. "Alright, that's fine. I accept those conditions. Though I want to add on one more, if that's okay." Mom nods at me and signals me to continue. "I want to set up a bank account. I'll probably need your help to get that done."

Dad returns to the conversation as he steps forward. "I can handle that. I'll make it so you can make deposits and withdrawals from anywhere. It shouldn't take more than a week to get it done." Even with his reluctance to go along with my dream, he's still a father and wants to help.

A tear begins to form in my eye before I quickly wipe it away. Now isn't the time to cry, it'll only make it harder for them to trust that I'll be able to do it. "Then it's settled. I'll call you guys within the week to give you an update. Tell the others that I'm okay and will talk to them later. Goodbye for now."

"Goodbye sweetie, we love you." They continue to stare at me for a few more seconds before cutting off the call. I stand staring at the black screen until I gain the feeling back in my legs. That entire conversation was more difficult than I expected.

I make my way back towards the elevator and head down to the first floor. No one else is in the elevator with me, making the silence all the more apparent. The door dings to let me know I've arrived on the ground floor. I walk back outside to the hot desert air and bustling crowds.

Mei's leaning against one of the walls when she notices I've returned and joins me. "So, everything go okay? You're not disowned, are you?"

Her joke causes me to laugh nervously. Not because it was funny, but because of how that could've been how this situation turned out. "Nah, I'm not thrown out yet. Though it does look like I'll be sticking around longer than expected."

"You get some extended vacation or something?" Mei cocks her head to the side in a curious manner. She starts leading me down the street towards a different area of the city. Fewer people are walking around this area, most seem to be foreigners based on their clothes and manners.

"Kinda, if you consider traveling on your own as extended vacation." I continue to look around at the surrounding buildings. Most seem to be embassies and diplomatic. The farther we get from the CCT I start to see hotels. The classier one's are closer to the embassies while the cheaper looking one's are further towards the slums.

Mei takes a stumble and looks at me, more confused than before. "Your parents are letting you travel by yourself? That sounds so cool. I wish I could do that."

"It sounds cool, but it means I gotta get some work to pay for food and shelter now. Plus, other things like clothes, medicine, weights, and other things like that." The list in my head goes on and on. I'm starting to rethink this whole independence thing now. "Then there's the rules my mom made me agree to. In the end, it's not much different than living with my parents. Now though I can go where ever I want to train my swordsmanship."

The blonde Faunus brushes off my new hardships with a frivolous look. "That's not so bad. It's pretty easy to make money in this city if you're good at it. I usually just take anything I need when I feel like it. Though you gotta be careful who you make angry or else you'll end up with a bounty on your head in the Underworld."

Thievery doesn't sound like my kinda thing. Not that I'm against stealing, but I'm not too good at it to make money off it. That and mom would probably kill me if she found out I took even a stick of Chapstick. "Stealing doesn't sound like my thing. I'll probably look into some body guard gigs or maybe try seeing if there's any good bounties out for criminals."

"Not sure if that's a good idea. You seem strong for a guy, but I doubt anyone would wanna hire a man as a bodyguard when they could hire a Huntress, let alone a kid." That's probably true. Like with the villages on the way here, most don't believe that a male can be as strong as a woman. Being a teenager doesn't help either.

"You could try some of the fighting pits if you wanted. They're under ground fighting arena's that people use to bet on fights. You'd probably go against other men so you could make some money that way. Though I wouldn't recommend it. A lot of people get seriously injured in those fights, or even die."

Most would probably agree with her, but all I heard was 'fight'. Not like I haven't had to fight people trying to kill me before. This time I'll just get paid for it. We soon come to a stop in front of a shabby looking motel. "This is the place I was talking about earlier. It's not much to look at but I know the owner so you can probably get a good deal here."

Before Mei leads me inside the shady place of business, a woman comes soaring out the door. The fallen woman tries to use her strength to get up, but falls to the ground unconscious. Mei doesn't seem bothered by this and continues inside. It's not much different on the inside, though it's cleaner at least. Only a few people are sitting around some of the tables in the entry way. Looks like this place doubles as a bar as well. A woman's standing behind the counter, holding another beaten woman by the collar of her shirt. She's a tall tan woman with short length black hair and a cigarette in her mouth.

The bartender notices our arrival and waves at us. "Hey there Mei, it's been awhile. What's brought you by?"

We walk up to the bar and take a seat in the bar stool. "Sups, Shakky. I was just showing this guy a place to stay the night. Figured your place was the best to leave him at."

"That's fine. I always appreciate the business." The bartender, Shakky, lets the unconscious woman fall to the floor and turns to me. "You must be new around her. The names Shakky, and this is my rip-off bar and motel. Pleased to meet you."

Shakky grabs two mugs from the bar and fills them from the tap. She hands me the mug with a cool smile. "It's nice to meet you too, but I don't think I can drink this. I'm only 14."

The bartender waves her hand. "Don't worry, it's not alcohol. It's just soda. I can't in good conscious give a minor the strong stuff." I give the drink a whiff to see if she's telling the truth. Sure enough it's just soda. I take a swig of the sugary drink and slam the glass down. "So, any idea how long you'll be staying?"

"I'm not sure how long it'll be. Might be a few months for all I know. I think I'll just pay by the day for now." First, I gotta see what kinda work I can get. If there's nothing here I'll need to move on to somewhere else.

"That works. It's 100000 Lien a night. Breakfast not included."

I look through my bag to see how much Lien I still have from the jobs I did on the way here. Looks like I'll have just enough for a few weeks. "No problem. I can pay for a couple weeks right now if that works." The incredulous look on Mei's face causes some slight concern. Maybe somethings wrong with her drink.

Shakky lets out a short laugh before going to refill my glass. "You don't have a problem paying that much, huh? Well, you seem like a good kid. I'll cut it down to 10000 Lien cause you're so honest."

Cool. I find a place to stay and get a deal on it. Today's looking pretty good so far. "Thank you, ma'am. I appreciate it."

"Manners too? Maybe I should see if I can keep you around all the time. I'm sure the lady customers would love to have someone so cute waiting at their table."

Mei finally interjects into the conversation. "Actually, he's looking for some work. He says something along the lines of a bodyguard or something like that."

"Hmm. I don't know. A man in that line of work is pretty hard to come by, let alone one so young." Like the other's she's skeptical of my skill.

"I don't know if that'll be a problem. When I met him, he was being mugged. Of course, the muggers didn't have Aura, but he still knocked out 4 women by himself with just one sword. He even reacted to a bullet being fired at him and cut it in half."

Shakky lets out a low whistle. "That's pretty impressive, especially considering you don't have Aura yourself. Maybe there is some work you could do."

Mei continues to take small sips of her drink while conversing with Shakky over what I told her about myself. I step in every now and then to make small corrections, like when she says I got lost because I got the signs mixed up. Seriously, is it that hard to believe that someone else got it wrong.

Shadows are cast as the sun continues to go down. Mei finishes off her last drink before packing up. "It's getting late. I should probably be heading out." She makes her way back to the entrance of the bar/motel before waving. "I'll come by sometime when I'm free. See ya."

And with that, she disappears into the street. Looking around I notice the other patrons have already left, leaving just me and the bartender. "You room number's 201 on the second floor. Should be clean. If you need anything just call me. I'll also need you to sign your name in the guest registry."

Shakky pulls out a thin book from behind the counter and opens it to the first page. Not many other names are inside it, only about 12 or so. I sign my name and gather my things. "I'm gonna be heading to bed. Gotta get up early to look for work tomorrow."

I give Shakky a quick good night and head up to my room. Using the key, she gave me I open the door and look inside. Like the rest of the place the room isn't in the best condition, but at least it looks habitable. No cobwebs or dust anywhere so she must clean it regularly.

I put my belongs next to my bed and hop in under the covers. The exhaustion from constant travel must be wearing on me as my eyes begin to close. Soon enough I drift off to the world of dreams and let the peaceful rest take me.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

 **Down Stairs with Shakky**

I'm finishing cleaning up the bar for the night. It doesn't look like we'll get any more customers tonight anyways. My hand passes over the guest registry before it stops. Now that I think about it, I never heard what the kid's name was myself. Peeling open the thin cover I scan down the list to the most recent entry.

' _Jaune D. Arc'_

A smile comes to my lips and I let out a short laugh. Well this certainly is funny. Things just might become more interesting around here after all.

 **End**

 **Sup everyone, new chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it. Leave a like or a comment and tell me what you thought. See you next chapter.**


	6. IMPORTANT

**Hello everyone. I want to let you know this isn't an update. I wanted to put this up in all my stories to let everyone know that I plan to rewrite Knight of Oppai and probably From Shield to Sword in the near future. For the latter I plan to wait until the Heavens Feel movie gets released on DVD, so I can watch it and get more info on that route.**

 **The other thing I wanted to mention is that I plan to put up a poll to see how you guys want me to update stories. Whether you want me to update a specific story for a month or alternate every other week between them. So go to my profile and vote on the poll to let me know.**


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